The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A substrate processing system typically includes a plurality of processing chambers (also called process modules) to perform deposition, etching, and other treatment of substrates such as semiconductor wafers. During processing, a substrate is arranged on a substrate support in a processing chamber of the substrate processing system. During deposition, gas mixtures including one or more precursors are introduced into the processing chamber, and plasma may be struck to activate chemical reactions. During etching, gas mixtures including etch gases are introduced, and plasma may be struck to activate chemical reactions. A computer-controlled robot typically transfers semiconductor substrates from one processing chamber to another in a sequence in which the semiconductor substrates are to be processed.